A Mandan Circle Unbroken

Cory Spotted Bear is making up for lost time. He learned about the rich heritage of his Mandan people as an adult, and now he’s bringing back a centerpiece of his ancestors: round earth houses. “I first learned about my own heritage at an all-Native university in Lawrence, Kansas,” he says, “and realized, hey, I’ve got things to be proud of at home.” Home for Spotted Bear is Twin Buttes, North Dakota, on Fort Berthold Reservation, which looks nothing like its 1800s heyday when Lew